Editing Shuar (section)

== Adulthood rituals ==
[[File:A’shuar-Canelos tunique MHNT.ETH.AC.1708 .jpg|thumb|Tunic in toucan feather [[MHNT]]]]
Prior to missionization in the 1940s and 1950s Shuar [[culture]] functioned to organize and promote a warrior society. Boys of about eight years would be taken by their fathers or uncles on a three- to five-day journey to a nearby waterfall, during which time the boy would drink only [[tobacco]] water. At some point the child would be given ''maikua'' (''[[Datura arborea]]'', [[Solanaceae]]), in the hope that he would then see momentary visions, or ''arútam''. These visions were believed to be produced by a ''wakaní'' or ancestral spirit.

If the boy was brave enough he could touch the ''arútam'', and acquire the ''arútam wakaní''. This would make the boy very strong, and possession of several ''arútam wakaní'' would make the boy invincible. Shuar, however, believed that they could easily lose their ''arútam wakaní'', and thus repeated this ritual several times.

A Shuar warrior who had lived to kill many people was called a ''kakáram''. Shuar believed that if a person in possession of an ''arútam wakaní'' died a peaceful death, they would give birth to a new ''wakaní''; if someone in possession of an ''arútam wakaní'' were killed, they would give birth to a ''muísak''.